Self-Portrait at Age of Twenty Eight by Albrecht Dürer
"Self Portrait at Age Twenty Eight" is unique in the sense that is is one of the first self portraits ever created. Self-portraiture became prevalent during the age of the Renaissance, and went on to influence much of Western art. While the main focus of this piece was to explore a new genre of painting, Dürer also intended to experiment with texture and color composition. He wanted to expand his technical skills by experimenting with hair texture, and was able to portray his natural hair type perfectly in the self-portrait. Dürer also experimented with a dark color palette, utilizing mainly reds, browns, and deep yellows. Dürer also utilized line in this piece, emphasizing the shape of his form with dark brush strokes. Dürer composed this painting in such a way that the viewer's eyes travel from his face, down his robe and onto his hands. This composition was intended to place an emphasis on the new genre of self-portraiture, as the main focus of the piece is Dürer's face. |
For my first planning page, I laid out my initial ideas for the project. Due to my recent work on my IB Comparative Study, I knew that I wanted to focus my project on themes of femininity, the female experience, and human form. Additionally, I wanted to focus on portraiture as my Comparative Study does specifically pertain to female portraiture. I decided to focus on the topic of male ownership, and the tradition of the father walking his daughter down the aisle in order to pass on ownership to her future husband. I wanted to depict the woman as unhappy, in order to really emphasize her lack of control and the status of her father as an authority figure. I detailed all of these ideas and themes and drew a small planning sketch of an idea that I had for the composition of the painting.
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On my second planning page, I detailed the layout that I intended to do for my painting, as well as the connection between my painting and my Comparative Study, and the color palette that I planned out for the painting. I described the portrait style of composition that I wanted to do for this painting, as well as why I wanted to do that layout. As was mentioned above, I wanted to do a portrait style of painting so that the bride was the main focus of the painting. As for my IB Comparative Study context, I felt as though it was relevant to reference because the idea behind my painting came from wanting to focus on themes of femininity, which is the subject of my CS. Lastly, for my color composition, I explained that I wanted to do a dark color palette, similar to "Self Portrait at Age of Twenty Eight" by Albrecht Dürer.
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For my third and final page, I decided to plan out my final sketch before beginning the painting process. I referenced the planning that I had done earlier by formatting my layout in a portrait style. Additionally, I tried to plan out my color composition, and the specific shades that I wanted to use, as well as where I planned emphasizing any shadows on the female form. Overall, my previous planning pages had a large influence on my final sketch and the way that I chose to format it. As this was my last planning page, I immediately followed this step with the beginning of my actual painting process. |
I laid out my painting and began to start on the skin. I started with a soft off-white base, so that I could layer darker colors on top. Once I finished blocking the color on the face and neck, I started to add shadows on areas of natural darkness. These areas included the jawbone, cheekbone, chin and eye sockets. I wanted the light in the painting to be coming from the right, so the left side of the face was where the shadows would be located. I started to layer soft browns and yellows on top of the off-white base, emphasizing the shape of the face. I avoided painting any areas like the lips and eyes until I had finished with the main face, as those specific areas tended to be more detailed and therefore required more individual attention.
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After I painted the wedding dress, I filled in any additional details I had to make on the portrait. This included the red flowers on the crown of the veil, as well as the pearl necklace. After I finished with the details, I used a black liner pen to go over any significant lines that I wanted to define. I did this with the purpose of emphasizing the shape and form of the bride. Additionally, the liner pen helped me add even more minute details to the final piece; for example, I was able to use it to fill in the eyebrows and the lines on the lips of the woman. Once I finished outlining, I mixed several different paint shades together in order to create a deep blue shade for the background. I picked this color because I wanted to create contrast between the actual woman and the background; I felt as though a contrasting background would draw more attention to the subject of the painting.
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The very first experimentation that I did was an initial sketch of my idea for the project. I had sketched out my idea for a bride walking down the aisle, being led by her controlling father, which was symbolized through his hand on her shoulder. Once I got to the painting process, however, I realized that I wasn't going to be able to produce a quality piece due to both my technique and the brand of watercolors that I used. Technique wise, my initial base was incredibly yellow and clashed with the natural skin tones that I wanted to portray in the bride. In terms of watercolor brand, I deduced that the brand of watercolors that I was using was too pigmented for my purposes, and I decided to transition to a different brand.
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The brand I initially used in my first sketch was Koi watercolors. As mentioned above, I decided not to use this brand as it was too pigmented, however, I also decided to stray away from it because I wanted to acquaint myself with another brand that I hadn't quite used yet; therefore, participating in experimentation with various watercolor brands. The brand that I ended up using in my final sketch was Prang watercolors.
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